Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore accused the No campaign of “right-wing, Trumpism ugliness” as she expressed confidence inner-city voters would ignore negativity and vote in favour of a Voice to parliament.

“They haven’t listened to the negativity,” she said. “That’s what’s been happening and it’s so mean, it’s been so unwarranted and so ungenerous.

“I think part of it is political – [the] Liberal party, [Peter] Dutton, a way of attacking [Anthony] Albanese and bringing him down, a first-term prime minister. And it’s also that right-wing, Trumpism ugliness that has spread on social [media] and I think it’s tragic.”

Wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with Yes, Moore said she was very confident voters in Sydney would vote in favour of the Voice to parliament, and she was “really hoping the rest of the country responds”.

Moore was joined at a polling booth at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence (NCIE) in Redfern by Sydney independent MP Alex Greenwich, who gave an upbeat assessment of voter sentiment.

“When they’re able to put the noise and the negativity to one side, they open their heart to Yes,” he said.

“People’s minds are changing. They are voting Yes and obviously the vibe in Sydney, as Clover said, people are voting Yes.”

Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo was too humble to accept the title of the Queen of Redfern, but the elder-in-residence at the NCIE also expressed high hopes for the Voice referendum.

“I’m feeling a little bit excited and hopefully it goes well for us,” she said. “I think it’s about time for my age group to have a voice because we never had a voice when I was growing up.”

But Aunty Beryl, 81, said the Voice was not just about “us as elders, but about the next generation”.

“We, the elders, did the walking and the talking with [Indigenous activist] Charlie [Perkins], and riding buses and all that,” she said.

“Now we’re doing it again, and we just want to make sure that all the gaps are closed, and we have access, especially to education and health and wellbeing and choices.”

While campaign volunteers handed out leaflets at polling stations across Sydney, voters in Redfern were asked to perform a simple act of kindness.

Nanushka, who declined to give her surname, was giving paper hearts to voters and asking them to write messages that she planned to share with Indigenous people “so no matter what happens tomorrow, they know they are loved”.

“When I first arrived in Australia, it was really hard to get support, and the people who always supported me were the First Nations people,” she said.

Nanushka, who moved to Australia from Poland, is not eligible to vote, but she hoped the messages she gathered from voters will be a demonstration of support for Indigenous Australians.